Always Exciting Around Here

We knew this was going to happen because we had seen the guys out marking and cleaning the roads. Well, yesterday was the day. Our road got tarred and chipped.

Here they are, all lined up.

First, the tar.

Then, the chip, or gravel.

There were several truck loaded with gravel to refill the spreader as needed. Those guys were driving backwards! All the way down each road, backwards.

 Passing each other as the empty trucks go back for a refill.

 In this photo a gravel truck is dumping gravel into the spreader.

 Then this guy came along and shoveled, by hand, gravel in the areas the spreader missed, like at the edge of the driveway.

He drove up and down each side of the road several times. I think he was packing the gravel down. The vehicle he is driving has four tires across the back and the front.

Later the wind really picked up. I had had my raised garden beds covered with old window screens which offers some protection from the wind while still allowing some sunlight and rain through. I took them off yesterday because it was so nice and there was no wind predicted. I hate when that happens. Sometimes my plants don't survive that.

This Sweet William started blooming yesterday.

Three different shades of pink all in a row.

Stay safe and well.

Yard Walk

I plan to do a walk around my yard every morning, weather permitting, to see what is happening. This time of year things change so quickly!

First up is the garden. It is small but just right for the two of us. Most of it is in two raised beds.

 In this bed are radishes - red ones and white ones, green beans, mixed wildflowers, mini cucumbers. 

 

In this bed is a cherry tomato (Husband will only eat fresh tomatoes in a salad so one is enough for me), sugar snap peas and one row of radishes on the left of the peas. I added a trellis for the peas to climb.

This year I have planted some things outside of the raised beds.

Mini cucumbers by the north bed. Most of them are inside the wire cloche (because of the rabbits) but the ones outside of it are doing well.

Cantaloupe in this bed. There are six cantaloupe plants scattered in there amongst the phlox, sunflowers and other wild flowers, and roses. The roses which we thought we removed because they weren't doing well have reappeared. It will be interesting to see what happens here in this bed this year!

I do have a zucchini plant that I haven't decided where to put yet. I do need to get it in the ground soon, though.

And, now for the flowers!

I got two of my railing planter boxes planted. I did not buy nearly enough plants to plant all my boxes and not enough to plant them as full as I would like. Maybe next time I go to the store, whenever that will be. 

There are several of these in the front bed but this is the first one to bloom. It is a Spiderwort, but we call it Ditch Flower because these grow wild in the ditches around here. 

 

The peonies are sooo close to opening!

This is what they looked like last year.

The Weigela took a hit from the frost which makes the leaves look less than pretty, but the flowers are still nice.

In the sewing room I made one of two different blocks for the #4 border of Designer Star. There will be two of this block in six colors and two of the second block in six colors. 

There are thin solid borders between the pieced borders. I will get all the pieced borders made before I add the solid borders just to make sure it all fits together well.

Stay safe and well.

Yellow/Orange and a Recipe

A walk around my yard shows a lot of yellow/orange blooms.

 

Calibrachoa is a trailing small petunia-like flower. I hope it trails down over the sides of this old milk can. 

I love the colors!

 

Dandelion and Yellow Oxalis - I know most people consider both of these plants weeds, but I love the pop of yellow throughout my yard. The sunflowers next to the Yellow Oxalis will bloom yellow later in the summer.

 Western Wall Flower - this was transferred from my brother's prairie.

Iris - darker yellow and lighter yellow. They are really pretty mixed in with the purple phlox.

I saw this young one when I took a letter to the mailbox.

Here is a closer view if you can't see it in the top photo.

I tried a new recipe - Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells.

It is good, but I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I couldn't find shells on my last shopping trip so I substituted wide egg noodles. I don't use fresh garlic quickly enough so I don't keep it on hand. I found a squeeze minced garlic in olive oil that is kept in the fridge so it lasts much longer. I used that. I used a package of Ranch dressing mix. I used 2 cans of chicken breast meat. I made the sauce as directed, then mixed everything else in. I did save out a little shredded cheese and crumbled bacon for the top. Husband likes it so I will try again when I can find shells. The recipe says it serves six. We will get four meals each out of this. Next time I might make only half the recipe.

Stay safe and well.